Martinsburg daily gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1887-1887, 1887-04-11
THE PRESIDENTS MAIL.
LETTERS FROM ALL SORTS or APPLl-
cANTS FOR PENSION OR PLACE.


Thousands of Letters That Cleveland Never
Sees or Hears of-Coaxing Mrs. CIeve-
land and Giving Her Advice-Letters
From Children-Other News.
WASHINGTON, April IL The presidents
mail contains an average Of from one hun
dred to one hundred and fifty letters a day
from persons whose claim for pensions ara
pending before the department These
people address the chief executive in the be-
lief, probably, that the pension office is next
door to the White House, and that theirs is
the only letter he may have received in a
week.
About one-half Of these letters are sent to
Mrs. Cleveland. The writers in such cases
are usually the wives or daughters of the
petitioners. Some of them bestow upon
Mrs Cleveland such titles as 'tHer Majesty, .
Empress = and other appellations of roy
atty There are few of the letters thatSdo
not contain some touches Of human nature
They are eviden thy written in the sincere be
lief that Mrs Cleveland will assist them if
her sympathies can only be aroused With
this object in view great mass of detail is
set forth in the communication, which, to-
gether with the obscure chirography and
bad spelling, make its understanding mat
ter of no inconsiderable time and labor,
It may be said in this connection that
mother the president nor Mrs. Cleveland is
even aware OF the existence of these letters.
They are opened by an unromantic and un-
sentimental clerk at the executive mansion,
from whose hands they fall into che waste
basket and are never heard of again.
The women who address Mrs. Cleveland
furnish her with suggestions as to the better
method of presenting their claim to the pres
ident. One of the plans which perusal of
the letters show that all wor1en hold in com
mon is for her to wait unit Mr.. Cleveland
has had his supper, and tina, when he is en-
joying quiet smoke in the parlor, bring the
matter to his attention. Many of them tell
her that this is the hour of the day when a
man is most amenable to argument and that
they the writers) prefer this as the safest
time for presenting their own requests.
The applicants for pensions who write to
the president are, as has been said, old
soldiers, who, like the feminine part of the
family, are sadly deficient in the principles
Of even an elementary education. They
write, too, in a more vigorous style than their
helpmeets and their language is sometimes
Of SO robust nature that it frequently pro
vodes smile. For example, all Illinois man
who addresses the president in a letter re-
reived to-day, says:
1.-The pension officials tell me to get cor
.roborative evidence from some of my COM
rades. / want to say to you that it's h. OF
hard matter to get evidence from men who
90 into an action and never come out again, =
and then he continues by saying that his
company went into the Wilderness hundred
strong, and at the end of the seven days
fight there were but nine of the number who
were left to tell the tale
Sometimes the letters are written by chill
1ren, who begin in this fashion:
s'DEAR Mr. PRsIDENT-I am a little girl
ten years of age My papa does not know
am writing this letter. If he did he would
not permit it,
Then follows pathetic tale of want and
misery, touching enough in its simple style
Oh treatment, but rendered doubly SO by the
fact of the writer's youth and innocence
Several months ago one of these touching
missives CHANGED toreach the presidents eye.
Its simple Pleading touched sympathetlc
chord in the presidents heart. The little mss
begged re ention of her father, Repub-
lican, o. the board OF medical examiners III
she New England town in which their nome
was located. She said he was very old anu
lying of IN incuiable disease The position
oaid him 4 salary of about 81 200 d year, and
IN view ef the fact that he could no
onger practice his profession the foregoing
sum was their only source of income. The
letter concluded naively in these words:
ssPapa must not know about this. 1t must
De secret between you and me. II you de-
.ide to keep him mark an x on the back 81